SEATTLE – Alcorn Men's Basketball hits the road this weekend for a pair of nonconference games beginning with an evening matchup with Seattle on Sunday, Dec. 18. Two days later, the Braves visit Daytona in Ohio to round out the two-game swing on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
THE GAME: Alcorn at Seattle
WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 18, at 5 p.m. CT
WHERE: Redhawk Center (Seattle, Wash.)
WATCH: ESPN+
LISTEN: KXSU.org
THE GAME: Alcorn at Daytona
WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 6 p.m. CT
WHERE: UD Arena (Dayton, Ohio)
WATCH: ESPN+
LISTEN: WHIO.com
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with everything Alcorn Men's Basketball this year by following the Braves social media platforms. You can follow
@Alcorn_St_MBB on Instagram and
@BravesSports on Twitter.
SERIES VS. SEATTLE
This will be just the second-ever meeting between the Alcorn Braves and Seattle Redhawks. The two sides met last season in Seattle with the hosts posting a 69-66 win on November 10, 2021, courtesy a three-pointer at the buzzer.
SERIES VS. DAYTON
In the only other meeting between these two storied programs, Dayton collected a 94-69 win from the Braves in Ohio during the 1980-81 season under legendary head coach Davey L. Whitney. That very same season, Alcorn turned in an overall record of 17-12 en route to capturing the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) title.
THE LAST TIME ALCORN FACED DAYTON
Seattle's Cameron Tyson hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, lifting Seattle University men's basketball to a 69-66 win over Alcorn at the Redhawk Center. Tyson finished with 17 points, including five threes, while
Darrion Trammell added 17 points and seven assists.
Riley Grigsby chipped in 11 points and
Kyree Brown added nine off the bench.
Keondre Montgomery paced Alcorn with 17 points.
Lenell Henry added 13 points and
Darrious Agnew chipped in 11.
The game got off to a sluggish start, going more than four minutes without a point on either side. Seattle's
Emeka Udenyi finally broke the seal with a free throw at the 15:37 mark. The Redhawks would go on an 8-0 run before Alcorn notched a point – a free throw at the 13:35 mark. Knotted at 23-23 with four minutes remaining in the first, Seattle closed out the frame on a 10-2 run to take a 33-25 lead into the break.
Both offenses got rolling in the second half, but sloppy play wouldn't allow either side to pull solidly ahead.
Down the stretch a Montgomery and-one pulled the Braves even with the Redhawks, 61-61. Alcorn State would take a 64-61 lead before Brown knocked down a huge three with 1:22 remaining. Two free throws by
Byron Joshua were followed by a Grigsby layup.
Joshua would rim out a shot on the ensuing possession and the Redhawks called a timeout to set up their final play – a Trammell to Tyson combo for a three from the wing for the go-ahead bucket.
LAST TIME OUT FOR ALCORN
The meeting between the Alcorn Braves and Southern Illinois Salukis carried all the drama of a championship final at SIU's Banterra Center. The see-saw battle produced 10 ties and eight lead changes, and the Braves were in constant contention until the Salukis broke out of a one-point game to pull away in the final four minutes for the 74-68 victory.
The Braves only led for two minutes and 45 seconds of the first half, but were constantly nipping at the Saluki advantage, countering each score from the first points on the board. At their widest margin in the opening period, SIU could only muster a six-point lead over Alcorn. The Braves led for over eight minutes in the end, building up a five-point advantage in the middle of the second half.
After Alcorn opened the game shooting just 1-of-6,
Dekedran Thorn kicked off a huge long-range night by slicing the lead to three, and Mike Pajeud followed with key bank shot out of a momentum-clearing timeout by Head Coach
Landon Bussie. After a pair of
Dominic Brewton free throws cut the deficit to two,
Devin Carter tied everything up with a long jumper.
Again the Salukis pushed back, and again it was Thorn using the long ball to bring the game razor close, dropping a three on the wing off
Keondre Montgomery's assist. Thorn hammered a dunk for the first Alcorn lead, but SIU quickly put away a dunk of their own. Then once again, the pendulum swung as
Trevin Wade dished out the assist for another three by Thorn, pushing Alcorn ahead 21-20.
A thorn jumper with 3:02 on the first half clock snapped a five-minute Alcorn drought that didn't prove too costly thanks to solid play on the defensive end for the Braves. Heading rapidly into the break, a Brewton jumper and a pair of free throws put the Braves in motion and then he closed the half with the final six Alcorn points by drilling a covered game-tying three with 19 seconds remaining, knotting the score up for the half at 30-all.
With 5:36 remaining, Brewton brought the game to its 10th and final tie at 58-all. Despite another Brewton free throw and layup, SIU clung to their one-point advantage and started to creep away with Jawaun Newton's jumper at 3:37. A two-minute Braves scoring drought proved deadly as the Salukis went 6-0 to build up some steam.
Across the final four minutes, the Salukis outscored Alcorn just enough with a 12-7 margin down the stretch to pull out the 74-68 win.
The Braves forced the Salukis into 18 turnovers, but weren't able to capitalize – scoring just nine off the free possessions. The difference proved to be on the perimeter, where SIU shot, and made just over twice as many threes – hitting 11-of-31 to Alcorn's 5-of-15.
That being said, Alcorn's perimeter shooting was impactful and Thorn's perfect 3-for-3 performance highlighted his 13 points on the night, the junior also hitting the glass hard for six rebounds to match a career high. Leading all scorers and besting SIU's Jones, Brewton scored a season-high 20, shooting 6-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 at the line. Kendall led the Braves' rebounding effort with seven boards.
CATCH THE BRAVES LIVE AT THE WHITNEY IN 2023
Season Tickets for 2022-23 Alcorn Men's Basketball at the Davey L. Whitney Health and Physical Education Complex are now available for purchase at
Alcornsports.MyImpactTickets.com/basketball. Season tickets for the home SWAC competitions are $76.25, while single-game admission is $12.65 in advance.
UP NEXT
After returning from Ohio, Alcorn takes the winter holidays off before traveling to Big 10 opponent Minnesota just before the new year on Thursday, Dec. 29, for a 7 p.m. tip-off against the Golden Gophers.
Follow Alcorn State Men's Basketball on Twitter (
@Alcorn_St_MBB) for all of the latest news and updates. For all Alcorn State Athletics news, follow us on Twitter (
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